Cardamom butter works its magic on a braaied spatchcock chicken

Funny how spices and herbs have such arresting names. Cardamom. Doesn’t that just sing of sweetly aromatic allure? As if the Word Gods thought very carefully when trying to find a collective three-syllable sound worthy of a spice so fine and compelling.

Like marjoram, and rosemary, and parsley (or, even better, the Afrikaans pietersielie). Like borage and bergamot, caraway and cassia, tarragon and turmeric. I think I can rest my case right there among some of the prettiest words in the English language.

Ground cardamom is not commonplace, as far as I can make out, but if you browse in specialist spice stores you’re likely to find some. And it’s one of the finest of the “sweet” spices, and deserves to shine in its own right.

And cardamom in this fine powdered form is a singular thing — consider those tiny, but very hard, little seeds inside the green cardamom pod. That’s what has to be ground, and very finely. I can’t see your average home spice grinder being able to grind them as finely as the ground cardamom I bought from a spice shop. Most likely one on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast, or maybe it was from the Gorima’s I found in Sandton a few months ago. When you see something like this, grab it and keep it tightly sealed for that day when you reckon it’s time to make, say, this cardamom-butter chicken.

And butter. Anyone who can really cook; anyone for whom cooking is not a task but an art, will tell you that butter in itself provides so much flavour that almost nothing else is needed.

But mix that butter with one single spice — cardamom — and we can be sure that there will be something special about its flavour once cooked.

Tony’s cardamom-butter spatchcock chicken

(Serves 4)

Ingredients

1 medium chicken, rinsed and patted dry inside and out

½ a cup butter, at room temperature

1 Tbsp finely ground cardamom

Salt and black pepper

2 Tbsp more butter mixed with 1 tsp ground cardamom to serve

Method

Start a few hours before you intend to braai the chicken.

To spatchcock a chicken, cut along both sides of the spine with a pair of very sharp, strong scissors or using a very sharp knife. The spine is discarded but can be used to make chicken stock. 

Turn the chicken over, breast side up, and push down hard with both hands on top of the chest. Bones below will snap and it will become flattened, hence chicken “flattie”. I also snip off the wing tips. Here’s a helpful video. 

In a ramekin, mix the butter and ground cardamom thoroughly.

Prise under the breast and thigh/leg skin with your fingers and spoon half of the compound butter under the skin, making sure you have enough for both breasts and both thigh portions. Rub the surface of the skin with your fingers to spread it around underneath.

Rub the other half of the compound butter on top of the skin.

Season the outside of the bird generously with salt and black pepper.

Put the bird on a plate and refrigerate for a few hours.

Remove the chicken from the fridge an hour before you intend to cook it.

I use two skewers to secure the bird, which makes it easy to handle. Push one skewer in through the thickest part of one thigh, then across to the opposite side and through the breast until it emerges at the other side. Repeat from the other thigh towards the breast on its opposite side.

Once you have plenty of hot coals, cook the bird for about 45 minutes turning often near very hot coals, until the juices run clear when a skewer is pierced to the bone.

Melt the remaining cardamom butter. While the chicken is still hot, on the grill, brush this on top of the skin. Serve immediately. DM

Tony Jackman is twice winner of the Galliova Food Writer of the year award, in 2021 and 2023

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